It has been one crazy week in sports.
It hasn’t just been mad because the Final Four, which is taking place between this being written and being published. There has been so much going on, it is worth taking a moment to catch up.
Women’s hockey wins the war …
It was ugly, but effective. The U.S. women’s national hockey team’s boycott ended successfully with a new contract with USA Hockey.
The boycott ending means the team will take part in the World Championships, which will take place on American soil, starting last Friday.
Under the old contract, the federation paid the women $1,000 a month for a six-month training period around the Olympics, and that is it. The rest of their pay came from training stipends from the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Now, USA Hockey will pay a base salary of $4,000 per month. Added onto that are potential bonuses from winning medals at major events.
Other improvements will be made in improving the girls’ developmental teams, teams that had nearly no support before.
All of this comes after a nearly two-week long boycott from the team, who refused to show up for pre-Worlds camp.
USA Hockey tried, and failed, to find replacement players. ESPN reported that they were in contact with D-III college and high school players in an attempt to muster up a team.
… But loses a battle
If the contracts with USA Hockey was the War of 1812, then UND served as the Battle of New Orleans.
This time however, women’s hockey would get the short end of the stick.
In an effort to cut $1.3 million out of the University of North Dakota’s athletic budget, women’s hockey, along with both men’s and women’s swimming.
“It’s a sad day when opportunities for our student-athletes are reduced,” said athletic director Brian Faison. “We needed to do what is in the long-term, best interests of the university, as well as the best interests of the athletic department.
The cuts come one year after UND cut men’s baseball.
To make the uncomfortable situation more awkward, the team was on the ice practicing and hosting a recruit at the time the news first broke.
The reaction has not been great, with students unfurling banners reading “Cut Admin Not Sports” from parking ramps on campus. There is also a petition live for keeping the program, which has nearly 2,000 signatures at time of writing.
FIFA internal probe wraps up
It took 22 months, but FIFA finally closed its internal investigation on corruption this week.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed the completion, and the 1,300-page report will be handed over to Swiss, then American authorities.
During the investigation, FIFA said that they reviewed more than 2.5 million documents and interviews with key witnesses. Added to the reports is 20,000 pages of evidence.
This is just the next step in looking into the FIFA regime headed by former President Sepp Blatter. Charges range from racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and bribery. The investigation will likely not be over for some time.
MLB is officially on
Sunday was Opening Day for the baseball season.
It seems like the Chicago Cubs are the odds-on favorites in win it all again. FiveThirtyEight has them as 14 percent favorites to win the World Series again.
The Westgate Superbook has the Cubbies at 7-2, as the Cubs return most of last year’s championship team.
If they were to win the World Series back-to-back, they will be the first team to do so since the New York Yankees won three straight between 1998 and 2000.